Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-09-29
.THE union BRIDGE
The Joint Committee Meets Yesterday and
Organizes.
4 DISCUSSION OF The PROJECT.
The Committee Makes a Good Start in the
Right Direction.
THE OUTLOOK VERY HOPEFUL.


meeting of the Special Joint Committee OF
Council, of the Board of County Commits
sioners and OF the Chamber o Commerce ap-
pointed 10 take into consideration the
project of building q Union railroad
bridge at the north end of the city, which
after many years Of lethargy, was recently
aroused by the REGISTER and brought be-
fore the public as an enterprise on which
the future prosperity of the city greatly
depended, was held in the rooms Of the
County Commissioners, yesterday morn
ing, and judging from the tone OF the
meeting and the feeling OF the members
there is every prospect that the matter will
DO placed upon q foundation from
which We may expect in due course of time
to see the great Union bridge rearing its
magnificent proportions above the waters
of the Ohio, and prOclAiming TO the world
at large that Wheeling, West Virginia, is
located right here, and that with enter
prise, energy and progress as its leading
features, it is ready to receive with open
arms all railroads which may wish to enter
its portals and assist in as well as
PAR-AKE OF ITS PROSPERITY.
Of course the competent gentlemen who
have BEEN selected by these three bodies to
represent them, are fully aware of the
magnitude of the undertaking and that it
is a thing that cannot be pushed through
IN q week, a month or IA year, and that
they must begin from the bottom and build
up, taking into consideration all the III
utest details aud ideas connected with such
a venture as they 20 along, bat at the same
time they are all fully imbued with the
fact that now is the accepted time to put
the thing in such shape that the bnilding
of the bridge and its necessary accession
may be pushed to as rapid completion as
possible.
As Judge Cochran stated before the
meeting, that if the bridge is built, there
is every indication and hope that in the
not distant future Wheeling will be the
central and important point on another
trunk line from the East to the West, in
addition to being the receiving ana dis
bursting point OF a line of railroads that eX-
tend from the lakes to the coke regions OF
Pennsylvania.
or course it must be acknowledged that
these statements look we'll on paper and
in print, but they will look a great deal
better in reality, and Judging from the
opinions of expert railroad men like Judge
Cochran and Mr.. W. A. Lynch, there is
not much doubt that inside Of 4 few years
it would be u reality were the bridge to be
built, and the proper inducements extend
ed to these railroads to enter our city by
means OF the bridge; and this opinion is
shared generally by all who are cOnyersaut
with the situation Of affairs.
THE MEETING.
As before stated the initial meeting was
an encouraging one, aud the members Of
the committee went about the work before
! them i'm the true spirit and in IA business
like manner. All the members Of the COM
/ mittee were present except three, one
of these gentlemen, Mr.. Caldwell, is alb
sent from the city, and Mr. Speidel was
making preparations and left for New
| York last evening. Mr.. Farrell was the
/ third absentee. Those present from the
various bodies were rs follows:
Council-First Branch, MeSSrs. T.. Buck
man and F. A. Delbrugge; Second Branch,
Messrs. X. NJ. Gilleland and A. c. Harrell.
County CommissiOners-Messrs Frank
Cruise, j. W. MyleS, James Mckinley, NJ.
Stein and W. II. Tyler.
Chamber of COmmerce-President DR..
IT. II. Logan, Messrs. F.. J. Hearne,
Thomas O'Brien, n. r. Scott, 4. J. Swee-
ney and y. f.. Whitaker.
Judge Cochran and Mr.. w. A. Lynch
were also present to confer with the Com
mittee, and a number of spectators occu-
pied the seats outside the railing, among
whom were several gentlemen interested IN
the bridge project and in railroads APP
preaching near the Ohio.
Shortly after 10 o'clock DIR. Logan called
the meeting to order and moved that Mr..
| Cruise be made Chairman, which was
unanimously carried. Mr.. F.. Buchanan
was then selected a. Secretary.
Chairman Cruise then asked the body
what course they intended to pursue,
whether il was the intention to lay out
DEFINITE LINE OF ACTION
or listen to the two gentlemen who were
present, referring to Judge Cochran and
Mr.. Lynch.
DIR. Logan said that the present meet
ing was the first that could he arranged,
that he had been in communication with
Judge Cochran and had learned about the
time he could be in the city, 80 that the
time of the meeting was set 30 as to have
him present. He said the committee had
crystalized no idea regarding the project
nor the mode of procedure; 1t is an under
taking OF great magnitude, and, Of course,
must be treated as such. As this Is the
first meeting, we cannOt expect to formu.
late any definite plan of action, but it is
merely a beginning in a business way to
set the matter in motion and commence
the foundation of future work. He thought
the time o. the body would he best occu-
pied in listening to Judge Cochran and
Mr.. Lynch.
Judge Cochran stated that he had been
advised OF the action of the several bodies
in annaintin9 committees to unSvt toiHefy
to take the matter into consideration, and
being in New York giving his attention to
railroad matters and the bridge question in
particular, it was thought best that he
should come to Wheeling and confer with
the committee in relation to the project.
The gentlemen to whom he had been pre-
senting the matter in the endesgor to Sc
cure their attention and cooperation, went
: so far as TO say that they would ask Mr..
Lynch to come out and ascertain the con-
ditiCR Of things, and see what the feeling
of the people gss regarding the bridge,
and that was Mr.. Lynch's mission here.
He thought that if the peoples vi wheeling
and Ohio county
WILL JOIN WITH EASTERN CAPITAL
in the undertaking he was sure the bridge
could b. built He didn't propose to ask
the people of Wheeling to invest their
money in Ohio railroads, but felt that they
would interest themselves more in the
bridge as an investment that would do
them sud the city the most good and bring
in large returns. When be had concluded
he asked Mr.. Lynch to speak on the sub-
lject and that gentleman began by saying
that his interest in the matter was this:
II. r.l.,, Ia 49,, - ~ VnrI